Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 6.6 %

VKTX traded up $4.81 on Friday, hitting $78.03. 9,153,938 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,374,743. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $63.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.74. The company has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -83.22 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $99.41.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,596,696.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 527,671 shares of company stock valued at $34,700,603. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

Viking Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD.